Team members of Intellijoint, including CEO Armen Bakirtzian, centre left, toss their caps in the air during graduation ceremonies at Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre in June. The company held a grand opening ceremony for its new facility at 60 Bathurst Drive in Waterloo last Friday.Accelerator Centre program. The other grad was TitanFile, started by ex-Google employee Tony Abou-Assaleh who was inspired by the local tech ecosystem to start his own company.

Home, sweet home

By Bob Vrbanac, Chronicle Staff

It has all the trappings of home, with a wall in the front reception area that includes a copy of the first cheque Intellijoint Surgical received for its high tech hip replacement product from Mount Sinai Hospital.

Also important in this collection of memorabilia is the a copy of the recent approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell its Intellijoint HIP product to a market of more than 318 million people.

It all added to the festivities last Friday as the local high tech startup officially opened its new headquarters at 60 Bathurst Dr. in Waterloo after graduating from the Accelerator Centre in June.

Even the cake had a suitable home, sweet home theme as the company’s founders and 17 employees celebrated their successes with the people who helped three friends turn an idea into a full-fledged biomechanical enterprise with an international reach.

“I really say this time and time again, but we really started from nothing,” said Intellijoint CEO and co-founder Armen Bakirtzian during the celebration. “We were three friends out of the University of Waterloo and we’ve built something great together, and this thing that we’ve built wouldn’t be possible without every single person in this room. You’ve touched our story in one way or another and we are extremely appreciative of everything you’ve given us.”

Bakirtzian said taking the leap from being part of the Accelerator program to opening its office in May was a big one. But he was bolstered by the knowledge that the new site has also been a launching pad for two other successful local high tech companies, including Aeryon Labs, which builds unmanned aerial vehicles at its new 575 Kumpf Dr. location.

The 6,400 square-foot Bathurst Drive facility will allow Intellijoint Surgical to do production, fabrication, product development and sale and support under one roof. It’s a big step up for them, especially in light of the FDA approval.

“The last month has been very exciting for us having the announcement of the FDA approval being the biggest milestone to date for our company,” said Bakirtzian after the ceremony that included special recognition from Waterloo MP Peter Braid. “Having regulatory approval in the U.S. is very important and builds on our Canadian clearance and all the good clinical work we’ve done in Canada so far,” said Bakirtzian.

The Intellijoint HIP device, a miniaturized sensor system that helps surgeons place orthopaedic implants during hip replacement surgery, is already being used in four Ontario hospitals and will also be used in four hospitals in the U.S.

“We’re up to about 130 procedures using the device, and the volumes have gone up pretty quickly,” said Bakirtzian about the low cost, disposable Intellijoint HIP unit that saves both time and money in what is normally an intricate procedure. “Now going into the U.S. as well we hope to increase our volumes, and expect more of the same as more surgeons use our device.”

Intellijoint hopes the device will take some of the guesswork out of surgery, while improving outcomes and reducing complications.

“We hope they really appreciate what it delivers for them,” said Bakirtzian, who comes from a family of doctors himself and was inspired to develop the device while watching his dad during surgery. “So we expect to see more of them use the device in greater volumes going forward.”

The potential is limitless, and there are early estimates that it could save the health care system $500 million.

“We’ve made some realistic and achievable goals,” said Bakirtzian, whose team includes co-founders Richard Fanson and Andre Hladio.

“Our goals are big and our dreams are big, but at the same time they’re achievable, and that’s what’s driving us everyday when we come to the office. Like the cake says, it’s home, sweet home.”